I've done it before, and I think it helped (I got the job). Also, I would make sure to customize the thank-you notes a little for each person. After one group interview, I remember everyone in my department getting a thank-you email from the person we interviewed--and every note was exactly the same. We compared them, and the general consensus was 1) Aw, isn't that great, he wrote a thank-you note and 2) Gee, it is kind of lazy to just send the same note to everyone.

I would send the note to the most senior person who interviewed you and ask her or him to convey your thanks to the other people who were in on the interview. I would name all those people by name. For example:

Dear Mr. Kahuna: Thank you for taking the time to meet with me yesterday to discuss [position]. In light of our discussion, I believe my [good quality] and my [another good quality] would make me a good fit for this position. . . . [more thank-you-note B.S. inserted here] . . . Please convey my thanks to Mr. Smith, Ms. Jones, and Ms. Taylor for their time and attention as well. It was a pleasure to meet you all. Sincerely, [Applicant]

I have worked for government most of my professional career and have never sent individualized thank-you's after a group interview. It doesn't seem to have hurt me much. The only times I have sent more than one note are: (1) if the group is actually two people, then I send one to each; or (2) one particular person has been very helpful to me, like if a particular person is assigned to shuttle me from interview to interview, tour your around the building, show you in and out, etc. In that case, I send one note to the boss, conveying thanks to the others (by name), and also one to the person who had been my handler for the day.

Multiple notes for a single interview strike me as a little suck-up-ish. Plus, it is very difficult (at least for me) to find three or four ways to say the same thing differently, so that each person gets a different note. Plus, IME, both as a candidate and as an interviewer, individualized notes are a lot of work for very little payoff. Other people's mileage may vary, but that's my O.

Wow...I never even knew thank-you notes were expected for job interviews! I've only worked at one place, but I'm about to leave it and look for something else in another city, so I'll keep this in mind. I wonder if it would help set me apart - for those of you who conduct interviews, is this something that's increasingly uncommon, or do only older people still do it? I'm 25, by the way.

I think it's nice. I never thought about it, but I think I'll start doing this!

[qupte]Wow...I never even knew thank-you notes were expected for job interviews! I've only worked at one place, but I'm about to leave it and look for something else in another city, so I'll keep this in mind. I wonder if it would help set me apart - for those of you who conduct interviews, is this something that's increasingly uncommon, or do only older people still do it? I'm 25, by the way.

I think it's nice. I never thought about it, but I think I'll start doing this![/quote]

They're not necessarily expected, but I think they're a nice touch. They are both a courtesy and an opportunity for you as the applicant to reemphasize your interest in the position and your qualifications. The very fact you took the time to send a note demonstrates your continued interest and will distinguish you from those who didn't bother. But far from being increasingly uncommon, I think it's becoming increasingly common; I don't think it was done at all a generation ago.

I have been on a number or hiring committees. While I would never not hire someone because they didn't send a follow-up note, it is a way to make yourself stand out just a tad. In other words, the lack of a follow-up won't necessarily drop you below the pack of candidates, but having taken the time to do it might nudge you forward a bit.

BTW, IMO what we are talking about in the professional realm should be a short follow-up thank you letter, on whatever letterhead paper you used for your cover letter and resume. It is not a personal note and therefore IMO should not be a hand-written thank-you card such as you would send out for wedding gifts ("Dear Aunt June: Thank you so much for the crockpot . . . ."). If there's no place for handwritten notes in the workplace you're seeking to enter, then you shouldn't use them for any communication. Sure, a hand-written note is more personal, but that's the point: You want to underscore your professionalism, not your personal side. Again, just my O.

They're not necessarily expected, but I think they're a nice touch. They are both a courtesy and an opportunity for you as the applicant to reemphasize your interest in the position and your qualifications.

The company I work for is being closed so they've paid for us to attend career managment training. According to the Lee Hecht and Harrison folks, Jodi is spot on. Thank you notes are a way for you to keep your name current in the hiring manager's mind and distinguish yourself from other applicants. They aren't necessarily expected but they do make a good impression.

I've done it before, and I think it helped (I got the job). Also, I would make sure to customize the thank-you notes a little for each person. After one group interview, I remember everyone in my department getting a thank-you email from the person we interviewed--and every note was exactly the same. We compared them, and the general consensus was 1) Aw, isn't that great, he wrote a thank-you note and 2) Gee, it is kind of lazy to just send the same note to everyone.

I can't give this message a strong enough show of agreement. The job I currently have was very specifically because I showed the tenacity to thank them for the interviews. There were three rounds of interviews. I used a different means of providing them with a thank you note each time. In each case someone was interviewing me via conference call in addition to the live persons in the conference room.

For one round I sent everyone a personalized hand written thank you. On another round where I knew a decision would be made soon, I sent them a personal email (because I didn't want them to receive the thank-you after they had made a decision).

I think what sealed the deal was that I didn't write down any of their names in the interview, and I certainly never received any email or physical mailing addresses. It was simple, after the interview ended and I was escorted out to the lobby, I started towards the elevator. When the interviewer went back inside I went to the receptionist and stated that I'd like to send thank-you notes. I remembered the names wel enough to get email addresses, and office addresses to send the proper thank yous.

By the way, its a thank you note - which means its on notepaper (or a correspondence card or some such). Don't buy a card at Hallmark - too much of your personality comes through with puppies on the cover. Its professional - not a personal note. I use correspondence cards a lot at work to send handwritten notes.

Somehow I think paper thank you notes seems antiquated... email thank you notes seem more contemporary. And I don't think HOW the thank you gets delivered is as important as what you say in the note.

Well, it depends on who the manager is I suppose. But I don't consider email to be a note. I'm sort of a stickler on ettiquitte - or rather - I'm sort of a stickler on KNOWING what is proper (not necesarily doing it myself), and the person who sends me a handwritten note on paper, puts the effort into the stamp, getting it to the mail, etc., gets more points than the one who drops me a note via email - who gets more points than the person who doesn't send a note at all. However, its really only going to factor in if you are in a dead heat in the interview process.

How odd. I sit on lots of interview panels and not only have I never received a thank you, I would be creeped out if I did. I have, however, received a few "why didn't I get an interview" or " why the hell didn't I get the job" phone calls.

There seems to be an element of magical thinking here. People who went to great lengths to provide thank you notes believe that this is what resulted in them getting the job. Could it have been that they were good applicants who interviewed well?

I can assure you if you are ever appointed by me, having sent me a thank you note, it will be in spite of the note not because of it.

How odd. I sit on lots of interview panels and not only have I never received a thank you, I would be creeped out if I did. I have, however, received a few "why didn't I get an interview" or " why the hell didn't I get the job" phone calls.

Likewise, when I've received thank you notes, I felt a little uncomfortable. However, lucky not to have received the other responses you had gotten.

Hmmm. Seems like the folks who think thank you noted are weird and off-putting are mostly not from the US.

As a career counselor, I tell my clients to always send a thank-you. It does not guarantee the job, but it does set you apart, and it's a great opportunity to address things from the interview. If one of your questions was "What are some of the biggest challenges for the person who fills this position", your thank-you note provides you with an opporunity to state (or restate, since you should have in the interview) how you would meet those challenges. You can provide after-thoughts on an idea, or expand on a point you really wanted to expand upon.

As someone who has interviewed candidates for positions, I've been pretty aggravated when someone didn't bother to send a thank you. To me, that showed lack of respect for the time it took for me to interview them.

As someone who recently got a new job, I will say that my first interview was with 2 people. I sent them each a thank-you after the interview. Round 2 was with 9 people, including the original 2 interviewers. I sent 9 different thank-you notes, and made sure that the 2 who had already received them received ones which were different from the thank-yous for the round one interview. Yeah, it was a PITA, but I knew I should do it (particularly since the job is still in the realm of career services). During my interview, I made sure to make a note of something that each person said or a project that they mentioned working on. That way I had material for the thank-you notes.

I don't think this is the only reason why I got the job, of course. But I have heard from people who were involved in hiring me that it did make a difference.

Hmmm. Seems like the folks who think thank you noted are weird and off-putting are mostly not from the US.

Yes, clearly the whole "thank you note" thing obviously differs from one culture to another. I've been asking around my colleagues to gauge their reaction and to see whether my feelings of revulsion are somewhat extreme. The response was universally similar to that expressed by don't ask: they all thought it was a gross idea and that any candidate who did it would be less likely to get the job as a result. It may be considered polite in the US for a candidate to send a thank you note, but Australians just see it as a creepy attempt at brown nosing.

Well, it seems a little dorky to me, kind of like I'm trying to pressure them into giving me the job. Of course, OTOH, it is also a display of courtly manners. OTOH the people who have interviewed me never look me in the eye during the entire interview, because they are the usual bureaucrats, so it seems like I am debasing myself even further to thank them for displaying the manners of somebody from Deliverance. But, OTOH, groveling has never bothered me before. OTOH, I didn't get the plum jobs even with the groveling. What to do!
hh

I always send thank-you notes typed up on the same paper as my cover letter and resume. We had a candidate who sent handwritten notes on flowery blank cards from Hallmark; I appreciated that he sent them (I had driven him around to the interviews, etc.) but again, I would have picked a more professional format.

I can assure you if you are ever appointed by me, having sent me a thank you note, it will be in spite of the note not because of it.

This +1. Fairly or unfairly, my impression is that most thank you notes I've received were from less-than-impressive candidates, and the extra try-hard from the note never did anything to move them out of the "probably not" category.

I dunno... Sending a thank you is one thing. Sending a thank you with reminders about why you're so good for this job seems to be quite another. Why does it not tell the interviewer "I'm sending this note not to thank you, but to prod you some more about hiring me, but I'm cynically pretending you won't realize this"?

I've got interview #4 with a company tomorrow and I certainly sent a thank you email to each person I've already spoken with, whether it was in person or on the phone.

A recruiter told me that the only thing wrong with a handwritten thank you note is that it takes too long to get there with how fast some companies move. I see where he's coming from - yesterday was interview #3, I sent the thank you when I got home, and they called this am to schedule for tomorrow. I don't expect to have enough time to send a handwritten note after tomorrow's interview either - I fully expect to either get an offer or a no thank you by either Friday or Monday.

I'm in the 'always send a thank you email' camp. I'm not sure how a short, polite thank you can ever hurt unless you are explicitly told not to contact them and that they'd contact you.

I vote for sending a thank-you note by whatever means the prior contacts were made. That is, if you e-mailed your resume, and the interview was set up via e-mail then the thank-you should be e-mailed. If you send a hard-copy resume then you should send a hard-copy thank you.

As an employer, I tend to favor those who send thank-you notes. When I've interviewed several people, all equally appropriate for the job, I want to hire the one who demonstrates that they were paying attention, can remember details from the interview and seems enthusiastic about actually doing the job, just as I would favor someone who dresses appropriately.

I had an interview back in January that was my first group interview. None of the interviewers provided me with business cards or contact information, so I asked the HR representative who had arranged the interview if I could send a thank you email and how to do so. He suggested I send one email to him and he would distribute it to the panel.

I felt a bit silly sending a thank you that was all about me and how great I was. So I wrote a note stating how I appreciated the interview and then added a paragraph for each person on the panel describing how something they had said impressed me and reinforced my interest in the company. I didn't throw idle praise at the panel. I was very careful to include something meaningful for each person.

As it turned out, the position I interviewed for wasn't a good fit. However, they were so impressed by my interview and my follow up note that the restructured the position so that they could bring me in.

I've been in the new job for a month now, and I love it. In many ways, it's my dream job. I knew that in the interviews and I wasn't going to let it slip away without doing everything I could. It would have been very easy to forego the thank you note since it was a panel interview and I didn't get their contact information. But, as mentioned, I wanted to send something really meaningful to my interviewers and keep myself in consideration.

I dunno... Sending a thank you is one thing. Sending a thank you with reminders about why you're so good for this job seems to be quite another. Why does it not tell the interviewer "I'm sending this note not to thank you, but to prod you some more about hiring me, but I'm cynically pretending you won't realize this"?

No, because the point of the note is not just to thank the interviewers for their time, but to emphasize that one is still interested in the position. Refering to issues specific to the job indicates the note is not a form-note.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Righteous

A recruiter told me that the only thing wrong with a handwritten thank you note is that it takes too long to get there with how fast some companies move.

Really hand-written? Pen, ink, all that? I would never send a hand-written thank you note for a job.

If I really want the job, I send an email, followed up by a hard-copy snail mail.

But with this one, I want to know if the OP ever got one of those jobs, and if it was with an entity that he had sent multiple thank you notes to.

Nah, I never got one of them, but I never bothered to send the notes. As I pointed out, my interviews were with a bunch of sullen bureaucrats, and, while I excel at self abasement and apple polishing, I usually can smell when somebody detests my very being, so, no note! And, subsequently, no job!
I did the next best thing, though. My brother got me a job!

This +1. Fairly or unfairly, my impression is that most thank you notes I've received were from less-than-impressive candidates, and the extra try-hard from the note never did anything to move them out of the "probably not" category.

Same here. We generally decide whether we want to hire somebody within a few minutes after they leave. Hiring somebody has never had anything to do with sending thank-you notes, and the people who do send them are (usually) less impressive. Also tend to have a tendency to be stalkerish.... We've had some problems with people not wanting to take "no" for an answer.

Really hand-written? Pen, ink, all that? I would never send a hand-written thank you note for a job.

If I really want the job, I send an email, followed up by a hard-copy snail mail.

Yeah. The reason I asked the recruiter is a friend of mine mentioned she always sends a handwritten note after interviews, which made me wonder if I should be doing that. The recruiter said it was a nice touch but too slow.

As always, it depends on the corporate culture. As seen by the responses here it really varies. I feel like if I can't figure that out and act accordingly, that company is not going to be the right place for me.

ST's vBulletin 3 Responsive Styles

Our newly refreshed styles in 2017, brings the old vb3 to the new level, responsive and modern feel. It comes with 3 colors with or without sidebar, fixed sized or fluid. Default vbulletin 3 style made responsive also available in the pack.
Purchase Our Style Pack Now